The Big Biofuels Blog » Environmenthttp://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels
Simon Robinson of ICIS blogging on biofuelsTue, 18 Jun 2013 18:24:56 +0000en-GBhourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.7.1Greenpeace protests against Neste’s palm biofuel planshttp://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/05/greenpeace-protests-against-ne/
http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/05/greenpeace-protests-against-ne/#commentsThu, 14 May 2009 15:20:20 +0000http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/?p=1793Greenpeace is objecting to Neste’s plans to become the world’s largest consumer of plam oil as it ramps up biofuels production, according to a report on ICIS news.

Neste disputes the pressure group’s claims that it will have an impact on the level of deforestation in South East Asial.

]]>http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/05/greenpeace-protests-against-ne/feed/025×25 warns on restricting cellulosic biomasshttp://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/05/25x25-warns-on-restricting-cel/
http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/05/25x25-warns-on-restricting-cel/#commentsMon, 11 May 2009 10:55:31 +0000http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/?p=124725×25 a pressure group in the US is warning that some proposed legislation in the US could severely restrict the amount of cellulose available for biofuels in what is effectively a call for managed woodlands. I can see why the Waxman-Markley proposal wants to ensure that the forests are not completely denuded of trees or cover for wildlife. But I am at a loss to see why so much Federally owned woodland should be excluded.

I whole heartedly agree with this sentiment from 25×25:

It is incredibly short-sighted to not include as a renewable energyresource the millions of acres of dead and dying trees that, with onespark, could go up in wildfires, releasing billions of tons ofgreenhouse gases.

Much better to convert at least some of it into automotive fuel before converting it to carbon dioxide.

]]>http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/05/25x25-warns-on-restricting-cel/feed/2California looks at emissions from crop to tail pipe and legislateshttp://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/05/california-looks-at-emissions/
http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/05/california-looks-at-emissions/#commentsFri, 01 May 2009 12:16:28 +0000http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/?p=1515California’s newly adopted low-carbon fuel standard may mark the beginning of the end of ethanol, according to a report on Planet Ark. The new legislation examines the carbon impact from seed to tailpipe, which seems sensible.

]]>http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/05/california-looks-at-emissions/feed/2UK has enough land for non-food biofuels — studyhttp://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/03/uk-has-enough-land-for-non-foo/
http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/03/uk-has-enough-land-for-non-foo/#commentsTue, 10 Mar 2009 13:33:11 +0000http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/?p=2315A study in the Journal of Applied Ecology says that there is enough land in the UK for non-food biofuels. The abstract, which is copied on envirolation.org says that there is 3.1m Ha of acceptable land in the UK, that’s land that isn’t of great ecological importance

“suggesting the UK government target of 1·1 million ha by 2020 is feasible.”

The other interesting news from this is that butterflies might do rather well out of Miscanthus and Willow plantations.

Butterfly abundance proved the most appropriate indicator, [of biodiversity] and it wasfound that total abundance was greater in field margins of both willowand Miscanthus biomass crops than in arable field margins.

Though the abstract didn’t talk much about species and seemed to be more interested in the number of butterflies… I think some lepidoptra are quite specialised in terms of habitat and food.

]]>http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/03/uk-has-enough-land-for-non-foo/feed/1The corn-ethanol carbon balance argument againhttp://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/02/the-corn-ethanol-carbon-balanc/
http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/02/the-corn-ethanol-carbon-balanc/#commentsThu, 12 Feb 2009 09:57:31 +0000http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/?p=2241There is an interesting video on Climate Central about the amount of carbon dioxide produced when ethanol is made from corn grown in the mid-West of the US. Hard to tell who is right in this debate (if any one is) the different premises are all important and few people seem to try and compare apples with apples. It’s probably best to watch it and make up your own mind.

]]>http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2009/02/the-corn-ethanol-carbon-balanc/feed/0Too much corn could be bad for ladybugs (ladybirds)http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2008/12/too-much-corn-could-be-bad-for/
http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2008/12/too-much-corn-could-be-bad-for/#commentsWed, 17 Dec 2008 11:13:23 +0000http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/?p=2290Interesting piece on the effects of corn monoculture in the mid-west. Looks like too much corn is bad for ladybugs (ladybirds), but probably good news for people who make pesticide…

]]>http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2008/12/too-much-corn-could-be-bad-for/feed/0Journal of Conservation Biology slams palm oil plantationshttp://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2008/12/journal-of-conservation-biolog/
http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2008/12/journal-of-conservation-biolog/#commentsTue, 02 Dec 2008 09:53:36 +0000http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/?p=1922According to a report on the BBC today, the Journal of Conservation Biology says that palm oil plantations are bad for biodiversity in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

It takes a higher degree, a research grant and the whole peer-review process to decided that planting one species where there were many hundreds reduces biodiversity… honestly.

]]>http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2008/12/journal-of-conservation-biolog/feed/0Saving forest is beyond the power of Indonesia’s governmenthttp://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2008/11/saving-forest-is-beyond-the-po/
http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/2008/11/saving-forest-is-beyond-the-po/#commentsWed, 19 Nov 2008 15:47:09 +0000http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/?p=2151Saving forest is beyond the power of Indonesia’s government, according to a report in the Jakarta Post. Here’s the extract

Speaking in his keynote address at the opening of the sixth annualmeeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) at the GrandHyatt Hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali, Apriyantono said any moratorium,including that recently called for by Greenpeace, was beyond thecontrol of the Indonesian government.

It must be that there are other forces at work. Surely, it would be more environmentally sensible to intensify production in existing plantations.

If you’ve been following the debate on energy intensity on the Big Biofuels Blog, mostly buried in the comments, (and perhaps more relevantly here) then you’ll know that I’ve been interested in the cradle to grave carbon dioxide position of palm oil. I’m indebted to Almuth on biofuel watch, who points me to this page .

Here’s the key Passage

Deforestation also releases amounts of carbon which is held by the vegetation, ie above soil. Indonesia’s old growth forests are estimated to hold around 306 tonnes of carbon per hectare.5 86% of that carbon are lost during ‘selective logging’, which tends to be followed by land clearance for plantations or agriculture. A mature oil palm plantation only holds less carbon than logged forest, around 63 tonnes per hectare, but those plantations have an average life-time of only 25 years.

As Almuth says in answer to a question about how much carbon dioxide can be attributed to biodiesel from palm oil…

If you are looking for precise information as to how much of this is related to producing palm oil from biodiesel – no such information is available. It would require detailed auditing but the palm oil supply chain is not transparent and not traceable. Apart from the very partial reporting requirements in the UK, there are no requirements on biodiesel producers or suppliers to disclose the origin of their feedstock (although a lot of them are very open about using palm oil for biodiesel). In any case, as you will be aware, there are serious question marks over the relevance of putting too much reliance on direct impacts.

The thrust of the letter is that the EPA should consider all of the effects of changing land use to grow more corn… Sounds fair enough to me, but where do you start measuring from… and where do you measure to? I’m with Bjorn Lomborg, who likes to get the largest data set he can before coming to a conclusion.